This Time Around
by Pannalid
Summary: On hiatus: go to profile for more details!
1. A Second Summer Reflection

**Note:** I'm so sorry for the incredibly long wait! I was away for the whole month of August, with a couple days at home, and in those couple days, I didn't have the inspiration I needed for this story. God, I'm sounding like suffering artist, but you know what I mean. So anyway, here's the first chapter! I hope you guys like it! The second will be up Wednesday/Thursday!

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the characters: they all, along with School of Rock, belong to Mike White and Paramount Pictures, except for Kaleb Brown. He's mine, figuratively speaking. I also own the plot and a couple names, but other than that, nada.

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**Chapter 1 - A Second Summer Reflection**

August 7

Dear Diary,

Time flies, eh? I mean, I'm sitting here, doing nothing, just thinking, and then I realize how much has happened in the past year. Think about it: it was right around a year ago when Alicia and Dewey quit, and that was the start of everything; kind of a chain reaction, domino effect. But not really.

Wow. It just hit me again. Our lives have changed so much. What time is it? 3:17 pm, I have time. Let's go over everything that happened.

So, first there was Alicia and Dewey quitting the band. _That_ was a blow. Marta and Alicia had always gotten along, even if Marta had predicted Alicia's downfall once or twice. So when their catfight broke out, everyone was way too stunned that it was happening to do anything about it. I guess it was a matter of two people too much alike… It was really tense all year with Alicia and the band. Except for me. Me and her were okay all year. Well, we kind of had to be, seeing as our lockers were right side by each.

Then, like, three minutes later, Dewey quit. That was horrible. I've thought about it a lot, and I've decided that thinking it would've been better if he had waited a couple days to quit wasn't me just being immature. It was way too much at once, and it turned into a complete overload. And, it showed Dewey wasn't serious about the band, if he was willing to just pack up and move cross-country for an _audition_. Zack was totally right when he said Dewey was being propelled by money.

I felt so bad for Zack and Freddy when it happened. They looked up to Dewey as if he was their father or something. He brought Tomika out of her shell, and Lawrence doesn't consider himself a loser anymore. It doesn't make much sense: Dewey does all this, and then leaves as if he were God damned Mary Poppins.

What happened next… Oh, stupid question. Marta and Freddy. They were adorable with a capital "A."

And then Eleni really decided to butt into places where she didn't belong. She's such a clown. I can look back now and see that Zack wasn't totally into her. But, back then, how could I have realized it? He wasn't doing anything to stop her… I can't think about it. It was practically a year ago, but truthfully, it still kind of hurts.

Then there was Kale. Kale's awesome, he's totally cool. I mean, it's obvious sometimes that he doesn't take the band seriously, which is annoying, 'cause we do. But what I like is that he doesn't treat us all as though we're two years younger than him… It's just like we're his buddies that he hangs out with once or twice a week.

Then there was the best part of the year so far - Eleni's birthday party. I mean, duh. Zack says on our one year we should sneak back into the Afflerbach's and "finish what we started"… Teehee.

And then… Oh God… Katie's Halloween party. I got a total of an hour of sleep that night, Marta got none. Supposedly it was the same over at Freddy's house, according to Zack. It was actually really sad for everyone. Even though Marta had outright insulted us to look cooler, I was really affected by the whole thing.

Big deal, though. I remember when Freddy called me a couple weeks later. He said Kale had just called him, saying the whole situation had been his fault, and not to blame Marta for any of it.

It was obvious it was a lie. I mean, Kale was smashed out of his mind that night; Marta probably had to revive him from passing out before she started flirting or something. I told that to Freddy, too. He got really mad, and started calling Twink a whore. But then I told him that what Kale had said meant something. Think about it: he could take or leave the band, he has tonnes of friends his own age, and he's two years older than us, so why would he care what we think, right? It was obvious to me that Kale saw something between the two, like they belonged together. Freddy agreed right away. Suffice to say, they got back together. And it was great, too, because miraculously, there was no tensions between them and Kale. Weird.

Yeah, all this bliss, only to break up and get back together twice before the new year. Yeah, I know, _that_ kind of couple.

Then, November twenty-third to be quite exact, my parents laid an absolute bomb. Mom was pregnant. Like, holy _shit_. I guess I could've figured it out; mom never gets sick, and she was practically bed ridden for a week in September.

They told me while we were out for dinner, so I got home and told Marta right away. She freaked. She kept going on about finally having a little baby brother or sister. My parents found it amusing. Why wouldn't they?

Then what… Well, there was the Christmas dance, which caused all the band-related commotion in the first place. It went well, nothing special. We played ten songs, then there was a DJ for the rest of the night. Kale didn't stick around, but it was fun just the same. Marta and Freddy got back together. Again. No surprise there, though.

New Years wasn't much, the band hung out at Marta's… January was pretty boring…

Oh. Valentine's Day. After the fifteen years of being alone on February the fourteenth, I thought I would finally have fun on the stupid holiday.

Whatever, Summer, keep on dreaming.

I shouldn't joke about it, it's not funny at all. Zack phoned at, like, ten in the morning and asked if he could come over. I was still in my pyjamas, but I said okay, of course.

He showed up holding flowers and trying to hold back tears. I didn't know what to do, but it didn't really matter, he sat down on the couch and just started crying. It turns out I had a right to be slightly suspicious all those times I noticed bruises on Mrs. Moone… Laura. Zack told me his dad would come home drunk two or three times a week and beat him mom. What a fag. Like, absolute jerk. People get locked up for years for doing that. Then they get pushed around by their fellow prison mates.

He never touched Zack, thankfully. But Zack knew about it, and had to go through all the emotional pain.

Zack said his dad told them back in December that he was going sober and he was sorry and all that bull. He and his mom were so happy, and Luke supposedly kept his promise until February, when he came home absolutely _tanked_. Before he could do anything, though, Laura picked up the phone and called the police.

The day before Valentine's Day, Laura told Zack they were getting a divorce. It hit him harder than he expected; after all, he said he said he knew it would happen sooner or later.

So that explained why my mom had Laura for a client. Zack stayed over all day. We didn't do anything, but I knew that's what he wanted. He told me he loved me though, and that he'd never hurt me. I told him the same. Duh.

Um… Um… Dewey came back for a bit. He mailed me, asking if we could all meet, Everyone in the band but Kale, Freddy and Zack agreed to go. Kale didn't know him, and Freddy and Zack were too mad at him still. For good reason. Anyway, Dewey said he got offered lead guitar with Red Lunch Syndrome, and that he accepted. We were all fairly quiet. He tried to get us to talk, but we didn't want to, frankly. I think he went back to California a week later or something.

My birthday was awesome. May fourteenth I turned sixteen, it should be a national holiday. I was smart enough to only invite the band over, unlike some blonde idiots, and we just vegged. Lazing around has never been more fun, to tell the truth. We watched all my favourite Disney movies: Aladdin, the Lion King, Peter Pan (that was a must), the Little Mermaid, and Alice in Wonderland. Kale especially enjoyed Alice in Wonderland. Yeah, we're onto him. Everyone raided my room, and Katie found my CD collection. Uh oh, right? Wrong. Everyone was laughing so hard, all four bathrooms were occupied in no time.

Zack got me the most beautiful I.D. bracelet I've ever seen. It might have been meant to match the one I got him for his birthday. So cute! My name's on it, and underneath it says, "For my little girl on her sweet sixteen." I swear to God, he's only four inches taller than me, I don't know why he always acts as though I'm 3'5".

On May twenty-second, my brother was born. 1:33 am, too, so I hardly got any sleep. Shouldn't complain though, at least I wasn't the one having the baby.

The best part was that Marta came to the hospital with us. I knew that my parents considered her next to family, but it totally surprised me when dad told me to call the Hale's house at 9:30 at night while he was packing up the care. Not that I'm complaining, though.

So, Parker Landon Hathaway is my baby brother. He's cute. Except for when he takes a poopy. That's not cool. The good thing is, though, that I'm way old enough to realize that my parents _don't_ love him more than me, so it's more fun than stressful having Parker around.

On the last day of school, Alicia came up to the band and just started talking to us like nothing ever happened. It was totally weird, but it wasn't awkward at all. The conversation carried on as though no one had ever quit. She hung out with us the whole day, even apologizing to Marta. I couldn't believe it! Twink was totally taken aback, but heard Alicia out. That was surprise number 370514358 of the day. Alicia said that she had been jealous of the rest of the band members and was sick of just being referred to as "one of the back-up singers." So, she tried to stand up for herself, insulting Marta in the process.

So many things were going through my head… I was totally ready to forgive and forget, but everyone knew that it all depended on what Marta felt. Thankfully, she was cool with it. Everyone did a lot of growing up this year, her included… I think she realized how trivial their tiff had been.

Alicia didn't want to be a singer, though. She said it wasn't fun anymore. She… how did she put it… She wanted to relieve me of my "dual duties." So, if we would let her, she wanted to be band manager.

So… wow. The band has changed tonnes. But the cool thing is that we're still a band. _The_ band: School of Rock. We only had to find Kale, and we didn't even have to look that hard.

Overall, the year was pretty good. Bad stuff - horrible stuff - happened, obviously, but in the end, I think everyone turned out okay.

The summer's been fun. The band has practised five or six times, it's really slack in the summer… Everyone's been hanging out together, even Kale. Marta and Freddy are currently together, and have been for a month and a half. That's pretty long. Zack and I have been together for ten months and a week, so ha. He's the coolest ever. Eleni's finally over him… I think… So there isn't that tension anymore. We still hate each other, it's just not so much about Zack now.

4:35! Zack'll be here in half an hour and I'm nowhere near ready!

Ciao!

Summer

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**A/N -** Okay, so that was short and boring. Ha. sonsofpitchesfangirl suggested ever so smartly that I get my ass in gear in regard to the timeline of the story (thanks bunches for that, by the by!!!), so I thought that I'd outline the passing year, which, by the way, was mapped out before/during the time I was writing You Never Know. Now, I'll shut up and let you review! Awesome! Thanks so much you guys!!


	2. Babysitting

**Note:** I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry for the long wait for this chapter. That is, if anyone even cares anymore, it's just been that long. In my defense, I've been going through some stuff, so I haven't been updating anything, or reviewing. I just haven't been on. So, anyway, I'm really sorry, and updates will definitely be more frequent! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the characters: they all, along with School of Rock, belong to Mike White and Paramount Pictures, except for Kaleb Brown. He's mine, figuratively speaking. I also own the plot and a couple names, but other than that, nada. As well, I do not, in any way, shape, or form, own Chex cereal, or the Maury show.

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**Chapter 2 - Babysitting**

Summer's eyes opened with a speed unbeknownst to her as the bedside alarm clock blared a pulsating beep. Realizing where she was, Summer groaned and flung her hand in an attempt to squash miniature black box. Unfortunately, it only turned off.

Shifting again in order to fall back to sleep, Summer decided to ignore why she was supposed to be waking up early in the first place. Summer's parents were going out for the day. They had told Summer that they were planning on heading over the bridge, and just shopping, eating, and anything else that tickled their fancy. Summer's mom had seemed fairly excited at the prospect: she hadn't been able to leave the house since Parker was born, and the prospect of dressing up and walking without a screaming baby seemed to excite her. Of course, they had asked Summer to babysit, being the responsible, more-than-willing older sister that she was.

Beep beep beep beep…

Damn, cried Summer inwardly as she threw a hand forward to slam the alarm quiet: she had only pressed the Snooze button. Ignoring the time once again, she turned over to readjust in her bed.

"Summer, that's the second time I've heard your alarm, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to fall back asleep just now."

Summer groaned at the sound of her mother's voice. Practically tumbling out of her bed, Summer scratched her head, yawned, and pulled her door open. If her parents wanted her awake at such an indecent hour, they deserved the monster they had just woken up.

Her mom was too excited to notice her daughter's fearful appearance and the look of apprehension on her face. Clapping her hands slightly at the sight of her daughter on the stairs, she smiled. "Perfect! Parker's still asleep, he's laying up in my bed, okay? The baby monitor is sitting on the counter by the sink, baby food's all in the pantry, but the formula's in his bag… You can have anything that you can make for lunch, and you can invite Marta over if you want."

"How about Zack?"

"No."

Summer clicked her tongue. "Why not?"

Mrs. Hathaway sighed in an impatient manner. "Don't think I don't know what goes on between you. It's Marta, or no one."

Summer crossed her arms, but didn't argue. There was no point. It seemed to her that her parents worked in reverse: they had always trusted and liked Zack while they had been friends and classmates, and although they became slightly weary when they were informed of their daughter's and his relationship, they openly invited him and his family over anytime. Now, though, that the two had been together for such a long time, Mrs. Hathaway especially didn't seem to trust him, thinking that… things… were going on between them, even though the _thing_ that Summer's mom feared most hadn't occurred at all.

"Don't give me that look, Summer Hathaway, I don't appreciate it," continued her mother. "I want you to behave, and be _good_, okay? Don't do anything _stupid_. This is a big deal for us, leaving you home all day --"

"Mom, I get it. Go," Summer huffed.

Mrs. Hathaway frowned, but walked towards the door, Mr. Hathaway probably already waiting outside. "Have fun!" she said before closing the oak doors behind her.

Summer simply grunted as she walked down the rest of the stairs and into the kitchen, where she poured herself a bowl of Chex, with a little extra sugar, and plopped onto a bar stool. Still trying to wake up, she turned on the TV to the first talk show she could find. Lucky for her, Maury was on with his specialty, young mothers with no fathers for their babies.

After a few minutes of watching the show in a sleepy stupor and letting her cereal go fairly soggy, the phone rang. Jumping up as quick as she could, Summer reached the phone on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Tink." It was Marta.

"Hey… God, what time is it? You could've woken Parker!"

"Well it's about time, isn't it? Ten to eleven!"

"Look at his eyes! Look at them! Do they not look identical? HE IS MAH BABY'S DADDY!"

A snort could be heard from Marta's end of the line. "What, pray tell, are you watching?"

Summer silently rolled her eyes. "I just turned the TV on, give me a break. Do you want to come over in a bit?"

"Duh. Why do you think I called?" asked Marta.

Summer chuckled. "I should've guessed. Give me, say, half an hour, so I can shower. I feel like a beast."

"You probably look like one too."

"Ha, ha," Summer said sarcastically. "Damnit!" she yelped, as she heard her younger brother crying upstairs. "Be here around half past, okay?"

"Gotcha."

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After an hour and a half of attempts, Summer pumped her fist in triumph. Marta just rolled her eyes, obviously bored and frustrated. "I never knew it took that long to feed a kid and put it to sleep."

Summer shrugged. "Good thing you don't live around here, I guess… That was pretty short compared to the last couple days."

The girls made their way down to the TV room in the basement, where Summer and Zack had sat when he had found out she could play guitar. Marta plopped onto the loveseat, turning on the wide screen to the movie already in the player: Aladdin.

Summer laughed. "Parker loves that movie. The way he squeals when it's on, you'd think he really feels a connection with Abu."

Marta gave a half-hearted smile.

"And he _loves_ Jasmine. I mean, you should see him, man. He reaches out for the screen like there was no tomo--"

"Freddy wants to have sex."

Silence filled the room at Marta's sudden confession. Summer stopped in mid-sentence, arms frozen in the air as she stared at her best friend. Marta just shifted on the cold leather, cheeks burning up in apparent humiliation.

Summer opened and closed her mouth several times before any sound came out. "Uh… _woah_?"

Marta sighed. "I know."

Summer sat down beside her best friend. "So… What happened? How'd the topic come up."

Marta took her time crossing her legs, seemingly wanting time to think about how to phrase it. "Well, yesterday, you know he was over… So, we were downstairs watching a movie… Well, not _actually_ watching the movie--"

"I get it, go on."

"Yeah, so you know, we were just, you know… Kissing or whatever, and then he just stopped and asked if… Asked if… Well…"

Summer was growing impatient at Marta's stuttering. "Asked what?"

"Asked if I had a…"

Summer couldn't believe Marta's modesty. "Twink, you've never, ever, been shy about anything. It's me here, just spit it out."

"He asked if I had a condom."

"Aak."

"I know."

"So then what?" Summer's curiosity was getting the better of her.

Marta's cheeks were an interesting shade of pinkish-red. "Well, we stopped, and I was all, 'what?' and he was totally like, 'well, do you?' and I didn't know what to do, so I just said no, because I didn't. So we sat up again, and it was really awkward, and then he just said, 'I want to do it.' And I laughed because he said it as if we were in grade seven again, you know, but he was all serious and he said he loved me and all this…"

Summer couldn't believe it. "And then you said…?"

"I said I'd think about it."

"And do you want to?"

"'Want to' what?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "Do you want to do… _it_?"

Marta swallowed hard and looked away. "I'm not sure."

The two of them were silent for a moment. Summer was trying to collect her thoughts on what to tell her best friend, while Marta sat there, looking off at some unknown point. After a couple minutes of making sure Marta had it all out of her, Summer opened her mouth to give her advice, only to shut it quickly when she realized that Marta wasn't finished.

"Had you thought that me and him already… did it?"

Summer furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Well, I'd've thought if you had done it you would've told me."

Marta nodded her head. "Oh, well yeah, no doubt… I guess you're the wrong person to ask."

"Why?" Summer asked.

Marta looked uncomfortable, but spoke anyway. "Well, a couple minutes after… that all happened, he just kind of looked at me and said, 'We might as well.' And I just looked at him back 'cause I had no idea what he was talking about… He went on about how people going out for as long as we have usually have already done it by now, and even if we haven't, everyone probably thinks so. I didn't know what to say to that."

Summer felt immensely sorry for her best friend, and slightly angry at Freddy. "Well, that's not fair of him at all!"

Marta looked hopeful. "Really?"

"Really! I mean, just 'cause he's horny doesn't mean you are! And plus, you guys have been on and off for just about a year now, right? But when you think about it, the actual relationship time has only been about four months, if you take away all the time you were on your breaks and stuff."

Marta looked relieved.

"And not only that, but what they say in all those videos is _so_ true, even if it is cheesy: just 'cause other people do it, or your boyfriend wants to, or _other people think you have_ doesn't mean you have to."

Marta nodded her head slowly, taking it all in.

"And," Summer continued, reading her friend's mind, "if he breaks up with you because of it… Well, his supposed 'break-ups' haven't exactly lasted all as long as he thought they would in the past, have they?"

Marta laughed at that.

Summer grinned. "It's something he'll get over, if you're not ready."

Marta sucked on her finger. "But what if I am?"

It was Summer's turn to blush. "Well… that's up to you, isn't it? I guess. I'm not going to stop you… If you want to, the power be with you, right?"

Marta smiled. "Yeah… I'm hungry."

Summer's jaw dropped. "I just gave one of the best supporting speeches of my life, and you conclude it with, 'I'm hungry'?"

"Thanks?" Marta tried as she stood up off the couch. Summer just whacked her with a pillow as she too stood up. Making their way up the stairs towards the kitchen, Marta spoke again. "Thanks for real, though. You made sense back there."

Summer smiled. "It's what I'm here for, isn't it?"

Marta ran into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge. "Yeah. Can I stay for supper tonight?"

"Have you ever _not_ been allowed to stay? I'm guessing we're going out, mom's going to be too tired from bossing dad around all day to cook," Summer said.

"Amen," replied Marta, tearing into an apple. She shrieked as she did so. "_God_ that's cold!"

Parker started crying upstairs Summer sighed heavily. "Well, it should only be another couple hours until mom and dad get home. After that, they can take care of him."

"Are you getting paid for any of this? I mean, it's a whole day, and you could be doing way better things, right?" Marta asked rather pointedly.

"I might be, I didn't ask. It's not that bad, though. I mean, I'm his sister, it comes with the territory. He doesn't cry much, either, he's been pretty good today," Summer replied, making her way towards the stairs.

Marta nodded, rubbing her hands over her teeth. "Yeah, I guess. I still think that total silence would be even better."

Summer scoffed. "It's obviously been a while since you've had a baby in the house."

Marta rolled her eyes. "There's never been a baby in the house, genius."

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**A/N -** Hopefully that was alright... This story's going to be a bit heavier than You Never Know, but if no one likes that, I can change it. I guess. But I'm really hoping you guys like it, because I have a real vision for this whole thing. Anyway, please review, and I'm so sorry for the whole wait!


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